Guy Gardner Collateral Damage #1 of 2
Writer: Howard Chaykin
Artist: Howard Chaykin
Company: DC Comics
Now, the one thing that everyone can agree on here is that Guy Gardner is a despicable, woman hating bastard. It’s as indisputable of a statement as saying that Wolverine tends to appear in just about every book Marvel prints. Despite this small, slightly annoying character trait, Gardner still somehow manages to be a compelling and fascinating character to read. That’s why Collateral Damage, Howard Chaykin’s (American Flagg/The Shadow) new two part mini-series, happens to be such a pleasant surprise.
The basis for this story, you ask? Why, it’s peace, silly. And if you don’t quite see how Guy Gardner and peace are synonymous with one another…Well, you aren’t alone. Neither do I understand the skewed thinking behind the two warring factions of The Raan/Thanagar War choosing Garnder as an arbitrator of neutrality for secret peace talks to take place on Earth. It’s wild concepts such as these and the undeniable fact that you know something will inevitably go wrong (more often than not being Gardner’s own fault) that makes you keep turning the page.
Other than that, if you’re not familiar with Guy Gardner, then this book acts as a trimmed down introduction to him and all of the trappings that come with him. Chaykin slyly covers the basics of his origin story, bringing to the foreground smaller elements such as his nightclub but doesn’t forget about Gardner’s past as the Vuldarian entity, The Warrior. He also doesn’t skimp on the supporting cast, utilizing classic Corps members G’Nort (affectionately referred to by Gardner as Jo-Jo the Dog-Faced Boy), Kilowog, and newly introduced characters such as Cadet Qanda and Thanagarian native Mazel. They’re a great band of characters that truly should have absolutely nothing to do with one another, but in true hero fashion, put up with one another to do what’s right.
Chaykin also dispenses some of his best art work to date. It may have a rough edge to it and feel a bit stylistic, but Collateral Damage is detailed. I’m not what you would call one of the biggest fans of Chaykin’s artwork, but this go around, I was impressed by two things. The backgrounds being one of them. They are rich and feel absolutely lived in. The other thing that stands out, this more than any other, is Chaykin’s ability to capture the innate smugness in Gardner’s persona. This is Guy Gardner, no doubt about it, and it’s the same thing with every character on the page. Even the various aliens contain discernable emotion and feel animated without looking like a cartoon. There are some moments where Chaykin’s usual T&A-ness comes in to play, but there’s less of it here and the story is better because of its absence.
The only thing about Collateral Damage that didn’t quite fit the bill for me, or would that be that I didn’t understand, was why DC felt the need to release this as a Prestige format title. Not that it’s such a horrible thing for them to do, but if they’re willing to do two Prestige books, then why wouldn’t they have just done a single original graphic novel that printed the whole story? Beyond that, Guy Gardner Collateral Damage is a brutal, insane joy ride of a book. If you’re a fan of any of the Green Lantern books and don’t mind a few harsh words and a little bit of harsh violence, then get ready to have one heck of a good time.
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Actually, I was quite disappointed with the artwork. The more I see of Chaykin’s work, the more it all looks the same. There’s a difference between having a style, and drawing all your characters the same. All of the females looked alike to me; they all look the same as Hawkgirl since Chaykin took over, and that’s the main reason I dropped that title, after following it from issue #1 (when it was Hawkman.) Yes, there was less of his usual T&A stuff here (another reason I dropped Hawkgirl — it was so over the top with T&A.) But I have some of Chaykin’s earlier work, and I don’t recall his characters all looking the same, as they do now.
04 Dec 2006 at 11:34 am
QuoteWell, I can certainly see where you’re coming from, Doug. Chaykin’s art is normally not something that I enjoy. His work on Blade so far seems too boxy and out of proportion. With Hawkgirl, I again wasn’t too pleased with the way it looked but that more or less, like you said, came with the unnecessary amounts of T&A he used.
With Collateral Damage, I don’t know…It’s most definitely his style, there’s no denying that, but it worked for me this time. And the color palette that Michelle Madsen (the same colorist that worked with him on Hawkgirl) used really caught my eye. This isn’t the best book in the world, nowhere near it in fact, but it’s one that was FUN and there are too few of those on comic book shelves these days.
04 Dec 2006 at 6:32 pm
Quote**”Gardner still somehow manages to be a compelling and fascinating character to read”**
You lost me with this bit. Its like when I listened to a Battlestar Galactica Podcast and heard Moore say I couldn’t hate Starbuck. Sure I understood the words but together they made no sense.
Anyways their over killing the GL franchise for me at the moment. The only GL different enough from the others to justify a third book after GL Corps and the regular Green Lantern titles is Alan Scott and a solo book for him just isn’t going to happen.
As it is this makes a fourth GL title that uses Guy in a very weird way and has dodgy art. Corps was already turning book that focused heavily on Gardner and did it a lot better, though I use the word better advisedly when applied to Guy.
Am I wrong in thinking that a slew of not very good spin off from a central idea tends to affect the sales of the good books in the same line negatively?
05 Dec 2006 at 5:33 am
QuoteI wouldn’t say he hates women; I wouldn’t say he respects them either. Viewing women as playthings isn’t any better than hating women as a whole, but it isn’t the same thing.
I wouldn’t say “Despite.” In fact, those flaws of moral fiber are exactly what make Gardner such an interesting character. Admirable, no; interesting, damn straight. Who doesn’t want to read about an arrogant space pimp?
05 Dec 2006 at 11:03 am
QuoteI agree with your review. I just happened to look through this one, and thought that Chaykin was doing surprisingly good work, the best I’ve seen of his since American Flagg. In comparison, Hawkgirl looks like garbage.
Characterization and story, however, were a bit all over the place. I found myself getting upset at, as you say, some of the T&A-ness early on the book. And I can no longer take G’Nort seriously as a character. But the core story was a fun ride and is a fairly easy to follow space DCU story, which is more than I can say for some of their other attempts.
08 Dec 2006 at 2:24 pm
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